Rails - Apr 2006 - Rails magic for MySQL -> XML file -> MySQL and back again ??

Greetings!

My little app collects data from the user, persists it in about a dozen tables
during the session, writes out / saves an XML file that''s downloaded to
the user''s PC when they''re done, then clears the db of all
data entered, and deletes the XML file from the server.

Now I need to allow the user to upload the same XML file they created earlier
and put it back in the database so that, using the same app they used to create
it, they can edit / update it and save / download it to their PC again.

Can somebody point me in the right direction here, please?  What''s the
Rails way of approaching this?  Is there some way to ''bind''
(don''t know if that''s the right word here) the XML file to the
db?  Some Rails magic, maybe?

Thanks in advance,
Bill
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Bill Walton wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> My little app collects data from the user, persists it in about a dozen 
> tables during the session, writes out / saves an XML file that''s 
> downloaded to the user''s PC when they''re done, then
clears the db of all
> data entered, and deletes the XML file from the server.
> 
> Now I need to allow the user to upload the same XML file they created 
> earlier and put it back in the database so that, using the same app they 
> used to create it, they can edit / update it and save / download it to 
> their PC again.
> 
> Can somebody point me in the right direction here, please?  What''s
the
> Rails way of approaching this?  Is there some way to
''bind'' (don''t know
> if that''s the right word here) the XML file to the db?  Some Rails
> magic, maybe?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Bill
Bill,

Not to sure of Rails magic but you could use an xslt stylesheet to
transformt he xml into an sql insert query then run that to populate the
db.

Hope this helps
Danny

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hi Danny,

Danny Malone wrote:
> Bill Walton wrote:
>
>> My little app collects data from the user, persists it in about a dozen
>> tables during the session, writes out / saves an XML file
that''s
>> downloaded to the user''s PC when they''re done, then
clears the db of all
>> data entered, and deletes the XML file from the server.
>>
>> Now I need to allow the user to upload the same XML file they created
>> earlier and put it back in the database so that, using the same app
they
>> used to create it, they can edit / update it and save / download it to
>> their PC again.
>>
>> Can somebody point me in the right direction here, please? 
What''s the
>> Rails way of approaching this?  Is there some way to
''bind'' (don''t know
>> if that''s the right word here) the XML file to the db?  Some
Rails
>> magic, maybe?
>
> Not to sure of Rails magic but you could use an xslt stylesheet to
> transformt he xml into an sql insert query then run that to populate the
> db.
Thanks for the suggestion!  Any example / tutorial links you could point me 
to?

Best regards,
Bill

Hey Tony,
    Sorry to jump into your thread un-invited, but, getting information 
from a Rails application, loading ''into'' it an xml document
from
''intranet'' .. call me crazy (ishmael) but, doesn''t
this scream XMLRPC ?
XMLRPC methods should be fairly easy to knock up to export a record 
and/or update from the database in conjunction with AR. Jst a thought, 
feel free to ignore it as you feel appropiate :)

    Regards
    Stef

Tony Martin wrote:
> Bill,
>
>   this thread seems to have stopped, but I wonder how far you got with your
> application.  I have  been googling for some time now and the information
on
> handling xml files in rails is sparse.  (To be fair, rails is aimed at
> database apps.) .
>
>   I wanted to do something very much along the same lines, although not
> quite so complex as your requirement.  After entering data into tables, I
> want to save the summary (an order with customer detailsm and order
> information) in fairly simple xml format on the (intanet) server where it
> can be separately accessed as required.  Then I want to allow the user to
> reload the xml file at a later date, be able to modify it and save it back.
>
>   If you had any helpful examples, I would be most grateful.  I am not an
> xml or xslt expert, but I need to grapple with this.  I have done some xml
> file handling/editing in php, but managing something similar from rails
does
> not seem to be quite so obvious. 
>
> Once I have my xml file, I thought I could build an xslt to allow it to be
> later viewed in a browser.  And I am also thinking towards providing the
> ability to import it into  OpenOffice for off line editing.
>
> I would be grateful for any useful links or advice you might be able to
> offer.  
>
> Tony
>
>
>
> Bill Walton wrote:
>   
>> Hi Danny,
>>
>> Danny Malone wrote:
>>     
>>> Bill Walton wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> My little app collects data from the user, persists it in about
a dozen
>>>> tables during the session, writes out / saves an XML file
that''s
>>>> downloaded to the user''s PC when they''re
done, then clears the db of all
>>>> data entered, and deletes the XML file from the server.
>>>>
>>>> Now I need to allow the user to upload the same XML file they
created
>>>> earlier and put it back in the database so that, using the same
app they
>>>> used to create it, they can edit / update it and save /
download it to
>>>> their PC again.
>>>>
>>>> Can somebody point me in the right direction here, please? 
What''s the
>>>> Rails way of approaching this?  Is there some way to
''bind'' (don''t know
>>>> if that''s the right word here) the XML file to the db?
Some Rails
>>>> magic, maybe?
>>>>         
>>> Not to sure of Rails magic but you could use an xslt stylesheet to
>>> transformt he xml into an sql insert query then run that to
populate the
>>> db.
>>>       
>> Thanks for the suggestion!  Any example / tutorial links you could
point
>> me 
>> to?
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Bill 
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Rails mailing list
>> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>>
>>
>>

Steff,  thanks for your suggestion. however, I am wanting to save and reload
xml files directly from the file system, so will be doing fileio not talking
to another app.  My aim is to provide an xml format that can be accessed
directly from PCs on the network and edited without going through the web
server.  

I am however making some progress.    this is my first development in both
rails and Ruby so I am feeling my way here..  I am building a
replacement/conversion of an existing MS Access database, and trying to
emulate fairly closely the original database functionality an view and I am
pleased to say that Rails is generally excelling iteslf.

On the XML side, I notice from Bill''s earlier posts that there is an
issue
if I use builder to create and render an rxml view  because after the
render, i will not be able to redirect to a new page.  What I am proposing
to do is use Builder to directly create an XML string within the controller,
save it to a file and then redirect to a page that will display the xml from
the file and allow for some editing.  If that sounds bizarre please let me
know.

If anyone has any pointers to xml file i/o and parsing I would be grateful.

Thanks
Tony
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Hey Tony,
    Well, if  your wanting to read and write xml files from the file 
system, your best bet is -definitely- libxml. Unlike certain other 
products that I could mention, the documentation is really rather good, 
and gives working examples of how to do this. Url is 
http://libxml.rubyforge.org/doc/.

     Perhaps I am missing something, and thats always possible, but, 
unless your wanting to write an xml editor that fits -inside- the web 
browser, you have two ways that I see; xml-rpc (think WebDav sort of ;) 
or libxml and command line.

    Regards
    Stef

Tony Martin wrote:
> Steff,  thanks for your suggestion. however, I am wanting to save and
reload
> xml files directly from the file system, so will be doing fileio not
talking
> to another app.  My aim is to provide an xml format that can be accessed
> directly from PCs on the network and edited without going through the web
> server.  
>
> I am however making some progress.    this is my first development in both
> rails and Ruby so I am feeling my way here..  I am building a
> replacement/conversion of an existing MS Access database, and trying to
> emulate fairly closely the original database functionality an view and I am
> pleased to say that Rails is generally excelling iteslf.
>
> On the XML side, I notice from Bill''s earlier posts that there is
an issue
> if I use builder to create and render an rxml view  because after the
> render, i will not be able to redirect to a new page.  What I am proposing
> to do is use Builder to directly create an XML string within the
controller,
> save it to a file and then redirect to a page that will display the xml
from
> the file and allow for some editing.  If that sounds bizarre please let me
> know.
>
> If anyone has any pointers to xml file i/o and parsing I would be grateful.
>
> Thanks
> Tony
>

Bill,

  this thread seems to have stopped, but I wonder how far you got with your
application.  I have  been googling for some time now and the information on
handling xml files in rails is sparse.  (To be fair, rails is aimed at
database apps.) .

  I wanted to do something very much along the same lines, although not
quite so complex as your requirement.  After entering data into tables, I
want to save the summary (an order with customer detailsm and order
information) in fairly simple xml format on the (intanet) server where it
can be separately accessed as required.  Then I want to allow the user to
reload the xml file at a later date, be able to modify it and save it back. 

  If you had any helpful examples, I would be most grateful.  I am not an
xml or xslt expert, but I need to grapple with this.  I have done some xml
file handling/editing in php, but managing something similar from rails does
not seem to be quite so obvious. 

Once I have my xml file, I thought I could build an xslt to allow it to be
later viewed in a browser.  And I am also thinking towards providing the
ability to import it into  OpenOffice for off line editing.

I would be grateful for any useful links or advice you might be able to
offer.  

Tony



Bill Walton wrote:
> 
> Hi Danny,
> 
> Danny Malone wrote:
>> Bill Walton wrote:
>>
>>> My little app collects data from the user, persists it in about a
dozen
>>> tables during the session, writes out / saves an XML file
that''s
>>> downloaded to the user''s PC when they''re done,
then clears the db of all
>>> data entered, and deletes the XML file from the server.
>>>
>>> Now I need to allow the user to upload the same XML file they
created
>>> earlier and put it back in the database so that, using the same app
they
>>> used to create it, they can edit / update it and save / download it
to
>>> their PC again.
>>>
>>> Can somebody point me in the right direction here, please? 
What''s the
>>> Rails way of approaching this?  Is there some way to
''bind'' (don''t know
>>> if that''s the right word here) the XML file to the db? 
Some Rails
>>> magic, maybe?
>>
>> Not to sure of Rails magic but you could use an xslt stylesheet to
>> transformt he xml into an sql insert query then run that to populate
the
>> db.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion!  Any example / tutorial links you could point
> me 
> to?
> 
> Best regards,
> Bill 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> 
> 
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Stef,

thanks for the pointers.  Webdav is something I hadnt really encountered,
but yes that is the genereal direction.  since I am only looking to generate
some very simple and standard file formats, what I am trying to achieve is
much simpler.  The files will also  be very small.

I have found that using Builder, creating the xml  into a Builder object is
really simple, and it should be possible to write this to a file as a
string.

I have seen reference to Hash.create_from_xml, but cannot get rails to
recognize it.  I have also had a quick look at XmlSimple and xml_in may be
all I need, although it seems to fail if the xml tags do not include
attributes.  i have had a quick look at LibXML, and  it should provide what
I need to read the file so I will pursue that and let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.  
Tony
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Sent from the RubyOnRails Users forum at Nabble.com.

Hi Tony,

Tony Martin wrote:
>
> I wonder how far you got with your application.  I have
> been googling for some time now and the information on
> handling xml files in rails is sparse.
I''m using Builder::XMLmarkup to output the XML files and REXML to read
them
back in.  Both are slam-dunk simple and both are included in the standard 
distro.  The documentation for Builder is at http://api.rubyonrails.org/. 
The documentation for REXML is at 
http://www.germane-software.com/software/rexml/.
>  If you had any helpful examples, I would be most grateful.
Take a look at the above and let me know if you have any specific questions. 
Be glad to try.
> Once I have my xml file, I thought I could build an xslt to
> allow it to be later viewed in a browser.
I''d be interested in anything you come up with re: XSLT.  I''m
not using it
at this point, but may have a need on the horizon.  I haven''t used it
yet,
and it''s not included in the standard distro (yet, I hope), but 
http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-xslt/  is probably where I''ll
start if
I end up going down that path.

hth,
Bill